1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a system and method for video on request (“VOR”), which match clients and video providers based on clients' requirements and providers' location and availability. Once the match is made, the VOR system provides for recording and transmitting of live video segments and other information from the providers to the clients.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently there is a need for on request video production. Although live news reporting is widely available, such video production methods are costly and suffer from lengthy setup times. This requires moving professional reporters, camera crews and mobile equipment to the scene of breaking news events. Many inconveniences arise in the production of news coverage and other eye-witness accounts, particularly when the occurrence of events or the interest of viewers in an event or a location cannot be predicted in advance. Further, it is often the case that a news organization is unable to get professional news teams and equipment to the scene of a breaking news event before the event is over, either because the event is too far away or because the news teams are unavailable.
Realizing the shortcomings of conventional broadcasting methods, attempts have been made to make the coverage and broadcast of events more flexible. When professional news teams are unable to be deployed at the scene of a breaking news event, networks and local stations sometimes use video and audio reports produced by people who happen to be at the scene in place of professional reporters. More and more, part-time or amateur producers are being recognized as important sources of reportage for breaking events. In a parallel development, Internet forums have been developed to enable video producers to upload videos, and to enable viewers to find films and videos of interest and to watch them after they have been uploaded and stored at various websites. Once the video is uploaded, these websites allow video producers to tag, index and/or share videos such that visitors to these websites can easily view the first-hand accounts captured by the uploaded videos. Although the video producers can tag their video with a location and/or event location where the video originated, such websites to do not provide for live video nor do such websites provide for video to be produced in response to a viewer request.
Other websites provide live video feeds from stationary webcams installed throughout the world. These websites allow video streams to be tagged with location information at the time the feed is produced. The websites also provide for searching the feeds based on location. However, these live stream websites do not include a system or method for publishing the location of a producer who is not already transmitting a live video stream. Since the live feeds are from stationary cameras, these websites are not configured to provide viewers with live video segments produced in response to viewers requests.
Yet another type of website provides producers with the software and methods to produce live video streams from anywhere in the world, using video-capable cellular phones instead of fixed web cams. The producers manually tag the location or event from which the live video stream is originating. These websites also allow the viewers to watch videos live or on-demand, and viewers can concurrently see the location the video is originating from represented as a dot or moving direction path on a satellite map. Like other websites, these sites do not include a system or method for publishing the location of producers who are not transmitting a live video stream and do not provide a method for commissioning the production of video segments that are not already produced or scheduled to be produced.
Certain news organizations have recently begun soliciting amateur news broadcasts, in effect expanding their use of so-called “stringers,” amateur or part-time producers. The networks have been inviting stringers to upload video to their websites, where the content is reviewed and published. However, these websites do not allow stringers and other video producers to publish their current locations and do not provide for viewers to directly request news segments based on the location of a stringer and his or her proximity to a breaking news event. In each case, the producer continues to drive the system by recording and uploading video segments to the site, similar to the websites discussed above.
All of these improvements suffer from the lack of a system and method that allows potential viewers to directly and immediately determine what is produced and distributed by requesting the production and distribution of video segments based on viewer's knowledge of the location of a producer. In every case, these improvements still rely on producer-initiated programming. Whether the producer is an amateur eye-witness at the scene of a breaking news event who calls the network or local television station, an amateur eye-witness who uploads video or who streams live video at a website, the act of recording and transmitting the segment is always initiated by the producer—not by the potential viewer. None of the improvements provide a method whereby interested viewers may commission the immediate production and distribution of video from a specific location. As a result, news organizations must rely on a person with a cellular telephone or other device who happens to be at the scene of a breaking news event. If no one is recording and broadcasting video of the breaking event, the news organization has no way of locating a producer who is at or near the event and willing to generate a video segment, because the news organization has no way of locating producers who are not currently broadcasting videos. Conversely, news organizations and other websites are not able to advertise their interest in video from a specific location or event to independent producers. Thus there is a need for a system and method which allow users to request production of video.